weight loss retreat exercise

As always, today is jam packed with things to do, beginning with measurements and mentor sessions, but that’s as nice as it’s going to get, after breakfast the hard work begins with Zu’s introduction to exercise followed by our circuits class with a little extra and then yoga, all before lunch!

After lunch the workload continues with boxing, interval training, abs and balls and a little stretch all before dinner.

The last class of the day is an introduction to resistance training with Ian. It’s the basics! Basic techniques, important teaching points and in a simple routine that will act as both a workout and an opportunity to gain a better understanding. This way those that need the technique get the help that they need and those that want a workout get the sweat they need!

We are very proud of the fact that here at FitFarms, we are as much about understanding your own body and making informed decisions on your future healthier lifestyle as we are about enjoying the exercise and getting you nearer the end result your looking for.

This week is not going to be an easy one for us, the clients are all very happy and pleasant and seem very keen and jolly, but some are lacking in motivation, severely! But that’s why they’re here, and so we will do our very best to motivate and enthuse them during their stay but by the end of their course they will need to be feeling the benefits and feeling positive in order for them to maintain what they will of achieved through all their hard work.

This way they will have proven to themselves how much they are capable of and they will be able to see how it feels to be fitter, fingers crossed for the rest of the week, today has been a good start, let’s just hope the energy and enthusiasm carries them through the week.

Here’s a Breakdown of the Weight Loss Retreat Exercise Routine developed by the FitFarms Team, as reported by Andy Baker.

Saturday…..

9:15 am: Introduction to Fitness Workout with Zu
All the basics in a continuous routine designed to build up a sweat and teach important techniques that will be regularly used and revisited throughout the week..(45 minutes)

10:00 am: Carry your Excess Circuits with Ian and Andy
3 rounds of the same circuit first time to practice technique and control second time with additional weight to emphasise the bodies struggle with excess bodyfat and the third time to understand how much easier things are when the weight comes off! Each station is a minute long and each circuit is continuous rest is taken at the end of each circuit ( 90 minutes)

11:30 am: Snack

11:30 am: Introduction to Yoga with Ian
An hour of your basic yet extremely beneficial yoga movements and techniques, improving flexibility and core and full body strength and improving cognitive functions like balance, co-ordination and concentration, ideal for those who have always wanted to try or for those who are stressed either physically, mentally or emotionally. (60 minutes)

12:30-1:30: Lunch with…….. Food!

1:30 pm: Introduction to Boxing with Andy
Covering the basics from stance, guard punching technique and pad work, this class takes the discipline of boxing and utilises it as a highly enjoyable fitness routine working the whole body and improving upper body strength and endurance. (60 minutes)

14:30 pm: Interval Training with Zu

30 seconds of slow pace either walking or jogging and 30 seconds of fast pace, jogging or running. Interval training is a fantastic way of improving your fitness and getting aerobically and anaerobically stronger. We used the road outside of our campsite which stretches on for roughly about a mile between bends, turnings or junction so it’s easier to gauge how far you’ve done but any stretch of road or type of terrain will be fine, even car parks are common place for such training. (45 minutes approximately)

15:15 pm: Snack

15:30 pm: Abs and Core with Andy

For this class we worked through the basic bracing and breathing techniques trying to engage our core muscles whilst breathing in a deep and controlled manner, then using this we added varying resistance and difficulty through a combination of arm and leg movements placing strain through the core muscles in many different ways. (45 – 60 minutes)

16:30 pm: Stretch with Zu

Bringing the intensity down before dinner, and allowing the muscles to relax and release after the impact of the say so far, a full body stretch focused on improving the mobility around the pelvis and core area. (45 minutes)

17:30 pm: Dinner …

18:30 pm: Introduction to Resistance Training with Ian

The basics are as good a place to start as they are to finish, so our introduction to resistance is a class built around basic techniques such as squats, deadlifts the prone position, shoulder press, bent over or upright rows etc used in a circuit to provide both opportunity to exercise and chance to understand the importance of correct position and movement. (60 minutes)

19:45 pm: Snack….

Sunday…….

6:45 am: Wake Up Workout with Zu
It’s time to get the blood pumping and loosen off those muscles stiff from the day before, Zu’s fitball class is a great way to start the day, with easy movements and fun social atmosphere and some good wake up music the exercises will allow your muscles and joints to feel free of pain and able to move normally again. (60 minutes)

7:45 am: Breakfast

8:15 am: Fitness Workshop with Andy

A brief chat, about balancing your workouts, the benefits of each aspect and how to identify and improve on your own weaknesses and strengths. (60 minutes)

9:15 am: Local Walk with the Whole Team

The walks are a great way to recover whilst active or to push a little further, a great chance to think and clear your mind, or in the case of clients on this course a good chance to ask questions get to know the team and the other people on the course and to get away from the campsite into the beautiful countryside.(1:30 hrs – 2:30 hrs approximately)

11:30 am: An Introduction to Tai Chi with Ian

The perfect chance to clear your mind and concentrate on one thing, fluid movement! And introduction to tai chi allows you to refocus and realign whilst considering a spiritual perspective, relaxing and releasing stress and recovering from previous exercise. (60 minutes )

12:30 pm: Lunch…

13:30 pm: Zumba with Sue

A fast paced simple dance routine designed to get you hot and sweaty to the upbeat music, a mix between several forms of dance as well as some aerobic moves all to the beat of the music (60 minutes)

14:30 pm: Bells and hoops with Andy and Zu

The class is split into 2 halves, one half of the group will learn about kettlebells and the other will learn how to hula hoop, half way through they change over, both types of exercise are very core orientated and a great way to tone the tummy as well as other areas of the body, whilst kettlebells are very technical hula hoops are very rhythmical so both take a little practice to get right. (60 minutes)

15:30 pm: Snack and Bus to Pool

16:00 pm: Swim and Aquafit with Zu

A chance to ease the aching muscles and still get a little more exercise out of you, for the first 30 minutes it’s swimming time at an active but comfortable pace, after which Zu will take you for an Aqua session which is great for active recovery or as a joint supportive exercise relieving the pressure and reducing damage across the joints (60 minutes)

17:30 pm: Dinner…

18:30 pm: Resistance training with Andy

In this session we covered three different structures of weight training, a great way of targeting the muscles to increase the breaking down and rebuilding of muscles in order to develop tone not size or bulk and by placing the session at the end of the day it allows for maximised muscle recovery through the night, the structures we used in this evenings session were.. Super sets, Tri-sets and drop sets as detailed below.

Superset: 2 exercises working on either the same or opposite muscles, I.e 2 exercises for chest or 1 exercise for chest and 1 for back, he idea being to double the intensity of the set without reaching complete fatigue.
Tri-set: similar to the above except with triple the intensity of one set and more scope available with regards to exercise.

Drop-sets: again there are lots of ways to complete this structure but with limited equipment the best is as we demonstrated, pick 4 or so exercises and complete them in a circuit one after the other with each exercise reducing the rep range.. I.e. Shoulder press (25),upright row (20), lateral raises (15), reverse flyes (15) are the four exercises and the numbers in brackets are the reps for each exercise. (60 minutes)